On Media

FactCheck.org: 'Little new' in Globe story

FactCheck.org is standing by their assessment that Mitt Romney did not actively manage Bain Capital after February 1999, despite today's Boston Globe report that he was CEO there until 2002.

"We see little new in the Globe piece. So far, nobody has shown that Romney was actually managing Bain — even part-time — during his time at the Olympics, or that he was anything but a passive, absentee owner during that time, as both Romney and Bain have long said," Brooks Jackson, a co-author of the FactCheck piece, told POLITICO today.

On July 2, Jackson and Robert Farley wrote that Romney would be guilty of a federal felony if he had any active management in Bain Capital after February 1999, given that he certified on federal financial disclosure forms that he had left at that time.

But Jackson said that FactCheck.org would "reassess" their analysis if Romney had been involved in management decisions after February 1999.

"We would reassess our judgment should somebody come up with evidence that Romney took part in any specific management decision or had any active role (not just a title) at Bain after he left to head the Olympics," Jackson wrote. "But in our considered judgment, nothing in the Globe story directly contradicts Romney's statements — which he has certified as true under pain of federal prosecution — that he 'has not had any active role' with Bain or 'been involved in the operations' of Bain since then."

Asked whether Romney would be guilty of a federal felony if he had taken part in management decisions or had an active role at Bain after February 1999, Jackson replied:

He would certainly be open to a federal charge for violation of 18 USC 1001.

But it would be up to a prosecutor to decide whether to press charges, and then up to a judge or jury to decide guilt.

It's a fact that people have gone to prison for violating that law. Our point is that the legal equivalent of a sworn statement carries some weight as evidence — more than a campaign press release, for example.

UPDATE: FactCheck.org posted its full response to today's news on Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m.